


Of Resilience

by yaruna



Series: Of Years Gone By [20]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Friendship, Gen, Legolas POV, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 18:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4930684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaruna/pseuds/yaruna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas POV</p><p>The friends visit a bar at a human village</p><p>All parts of the series are stand-alone one-shots, though some may have references to previous happenings</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Resilience

For days they had been pestering me about going out, leaving Imladris for a while. After I had rejected them for the umpteenth time, they had taken the decision into their own hands. They dressed me in a cloak much too big for me and put me on my horse. I had not objected overly much once we were on the road, although I had not known where we were going. Had I known, I might have opposed to it more.

We stopped outside of a small inn that had an iron sign outside of it. 'The Stag' it said, with a small, white stag on it. It reminded me of home, but I quickly shook the thought away. It was not the first time I had felt homesick since my father had left for Mirkwood. Maybe, just maybe, it was about time to go back to my father's realm again, and stop pilfering on the kindness of Elrond and his sons.

Someone pushed the hood of the cloak up over my head and I turned to see Elrohir standing behind me. He sported a small smile that was filled with humor.

'You do not want to garner too much attention.'

'I do not see you or Elladan covering your ears.' I said as we stepped through the door of the inn.

'Who said it is your ears we're covering up?' He smirked, but the shrugged, letting any pretense drop. 'Everyone here know us already, we are no longer interesting. Besides, the only light-haired Elf they have ever seen is Glorfindel, and he is accosted whenever he comes here.'

This was probably more due to Glorfindel being who Glorfindel is, but I let that part slide, and settled for continuing to tease them instead.

'And you thought this would be a good place to bring me? Somewhere I could be accosted by Men?' I asked, one eyebrow raised. Better than being accosted by Orcs. I kept that thought to myself, as it would do nothing for the mood.

'We thought it was the best.' Elladan cut in and slid a chair out for me to sit in.

'The best for whom, I wonder?' Estel chuckled, switching to Westron, as he himself slid into a chair opposite to me.

'We have not come here for ages, it was about time we went here.' Elladan finally explained himself.

'Although we could have managed without seeing you for a few years more.' A girl said from behind Elladan and his face split into a wide grin. She smiled however, belying her words, seemingly quite pleased at seeing them again.

'Shir! I have missed your tongue.' He said teasingly, and turned around to see her just in time to see her roll her eyes at him.

'If you came more often, you would not miss it as much.' She said in a flat tone, but winked suggestively and I was slightly amused by the girl. Elladan could be intimidating, just watching him was enough for most to think twice about what they were saying, but obviously this girl had no such qualms.

'Three ales for you boys, but what is your companion having?' she said, looking towards me with badly hidden curiosity.

'Dorwinion.' I answered before anyone else had a chance to say anything, and she stared at me in surprise, before she let out a hearty laugh. It had been a foolish request of course; it was uncommon to find good wine at human inns. While I had not been at many, this is what I have been told by other Elfs in Rivendell.

'Oh, honey, we have no Dorwinion.' She said this sounding genuinely sad about the fact. Maybe she was. 'You would have better luck in Rivendell, they have better taste in wine than you will find here.'

'What would you suggest?' I asked.

'Sweet cheeks, I could suggest plenty of things,' she leered cheekily and I felt my cheeks grow warmer as my three companions snickered, 'but if it is wine that you want, we have the brew of the house, although I'm not certain it's better than the ale.'

'I shall judge.' I said with a small, forced, smile. 'The wine, please.'

'It's your funeral.' She said, shrugging slightly, as she turned to get back to the bar.

'She was not joking, Legolas.' Estel said silently, as if trying to prevent someone from hearing.

'About plenty suggestions, or about my funeral?'

'Neither, I should think.' Elrohir chuckled. 'The wine is awful.'

'But do not let the barkeeper hear you say that.' Estel cautioned.

'No, indeed! He takes much pride in his concoction.'

'And if you manage to keep it down, you will have a friend for eternity.'

I was getting a bit worried, but the brothers do have a tendency to exaggerate.

'I have never heard of anyone who has actually managed to keep it down.' Estel said and I frowned. What had I done?

The girl came over with our drinks and I hesitated before wrapping my fingers around the wine glass.

It seemed as though the entire place quieted. Looking up, I found that everyone was watching me unabashedly. Something that helped bring home the fact that the brothers had in fact not been exaggerating.

I slowly brought the glass to my face and swirled it, smelling it. It smelled fruity and sweet, with just a hint of spice. I frowned as I was unable to place it, and brought the glass to my lips.

'Wait!' Elladan said loudly and raised his own mug of ale. 'A toast to our friend before he is lost to the bushes.' He said it so that everyone at the inn could hear, and all raised their mugs and drank.

'A bit over the top, Elladan?' I smirked. He just chuckled as he finished his drink.

'Nay, for I too fear that we will not see you for the rest of the night.' Elrohir said. I shook my head.

'How bad can it be?'

'Famous last words.' Estel chipped in, looking at me expectantly.

Feeling that I could not put it off anymore, I put my lips against the glass and took a sip.

From years of living with my father, I have learnt to control my face when it is called for. I kept my face carefully neutral as the wine relentlessly burnt its way down my throat. I am reluctant to call it wine, as it feels like an insult to the normally so fine liquor, though I could not find another name for it.

'Legolas?' Estel asked with an odd tone to his voice. I looked at him, and could not quite see what he was thinking. He was slightly worried, but it was more like he was waiting for something. What he was waiting for, I did not know. 'Are you all right?' He asked, still looking at me intently.

I realized then. They had all tried this so called wine, and had most likely failed horribly. It had been no coincidence that they had brought me here. They had known I would order the wine. They had set me up.

'I am fine.' I answered and took another drink of the vile brew.

'Impossible.' Someone said in a low voice, and then louder: 'Hey, barkeep! A runt managed to hold your "wine"'

I did take exception to being called runt, but I could withstand it for the moment. I would take anything that would help me get back at the three brothers, or as I was beginning to think of them, the three goblins.

'Truly?' a man asked as he walked out from behind the bar, wiping his hands on a towel that hung from his belt. He looked somewhat impressed, but completely self-satisfied as he came up to smack me on the back.

'You are better than all in here.' He said loudly and I chuckled.

'I thank you barkeep. It is a rather amazing brew you have, and I shall ask for the entire bottle, so that my friends here can taste it also.' I did my best to hide my smirk.

'Of course, of course!' he answered happily and called for Shir to get more glasses and the bottle before he went back to his normal position behind the bar.

'We are fine, truly.' Elrohir said, holding his hands up and shaking his head as Shir placed the glasses in front of them and poured the wine.

'I wouldn't have thought the three of you would be defeated by a "runt".' Shir said with a small smirk, putting emphasis on the last word. I hid my own grin behind my hand. Nothing I could have said would have egged them on quite as much as that did.

'We are not defeated, Shir.' Elladan groused. 'Fill them up then.'

She did, and she stuck around, hand on her hip, as the three lifted their glasses, as if to make sure they would drink it properly.

'To our demise.' Elladan lamented as they raised their glasses and drank.

Estel immediately gagged and got to his feet so quickly that the chair fell backwards. He gave me a wide-eyed glare before he ran out of the inn, presumably to the bushes they had mentioned previously.

Elladan and Elrohir did look a little green around the edges, but were fairing a lot better than their human brother. They both had only given ugly grimaces as they had swallowed.

I took another swig of my own wine, and they looked at me in horror before they also raised their glasses. They were not quite up to the challenge however, and as soon as they had set the glasses down again they stood up in unison and walked outside, their strides getting longer the closer they came to the door.

The woman, Shir, laughed merrily, and I could not avoid smirking.

'I must thank you, miss.' I said with a small nod to her. She looked at me contemplatively.

'You are not the first they have brought in to have a try at the barkeep's wine, but you are certainly the first that have succeeded so brilliantly.' She chuckled.

'They needed a taste of their own medicine then.' I smirked, looking to the door where the three had left.

'Oh, they have tried it before, all right.' She grinned widely. 'I'll put this on Elladan's tab as usual, shall I?'

'Indeed.' I smirked and started rummaging in my pouch for a bit of money and smiled when I found what I was searching for.

'For the help, miss. I could not have done it without you.' I grinned.

'I imagine you could have.' She said, but pocketed my offered tip anyhow. 'What I can't imagine though is how you managed to keep that down. You cannot be human.'

I smirked and gave her a wink.

'Indeed, I cannot. I better go see to my companions.' I said and left her looking after me.

'Tell the twins to come back soon, I won't even give them the wine.' She called after me as I closed the door.

The noise of retching brought me immediately to some bushes behind the inn. I will not share what I saw, but suffice to say, I was suddenly having more trouble keeping the fluid that was burning through my stomach down as well. But where the others had failed, I succeeded.

'It is still as vile as before.' Elrohir muttered as he straightened from his bent-over position.

'If not worse.' Estel muttered.

'How did Legolas do it?'

'I could not let you have all the fun.' I grinned, and they noticed me.

'You…' Elrohir breathed, disgust clear on his face.

'Did nothing worse than what you were trying to do against me.' I finished for him with a chuckle. 'I can't imagine how you thought this would be a nice way to spend the evening.' I said, pointedly looking at the mess in the bushes.

'You spa…' Elladan started angrily, but was silenced by a horrified glare from Elrohir. I decided to finish for him anyhow.

'Spawn of Mordor?' I smirked and Elladan looked at me in surprise. He paled ever so slightly.

'You knew?'

'Of course.' I said simply.

'And you never told your father?'

'Tell him the best hold I will ever have over you? Surely you jest.' I smirked. 'Can you imagine what he would say?' I added evilly. 'For what is he, if I am the spawn of Mordor?'

Elladan, if possibly, paled even more, giving us his best ghost impression. I had to chuckle.

Elrohir merely sighed, and Estel mainly looked confused. These were things that had gone by centuries before his birth.

'I was afraid of this.' Elrohir muttered and started walking slowly towards our horses, the rest of us following. 'Nothing good ever comes from drinking with Legolas. Nor from calling him spawn of Mordor.' He gave his brother a pointed glare.

I laughed happily, and did not miss the small smiles that showed on their lips. I had not laughed much lately, but I decided to push the reason for this to the back of my mind. It felt good to let go.

'Well, this was fun! Where to next?'

I grinned at the groans that came from the other three.

'Spawn of Mordor.' Estel muttered, nodding slowly, still looking a bit green. 'It fits.'

 


End file.
